Dissonance
by Orchideater
Summary: Soft yaoi, R, QwanChikei. Shaga instigates a union between heaven and earth.


Dissonance

by Orchideater

Soft yaoi, R, Qwan/Chikei.

Summary: Shaga instigates a union between heaven and earth.

Disclaimer: Qwan and all affiliated characters property of Aki Shimizu and official licensees.

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A quick rundown of some important points, since Qwan seems to be a pretty unknown series:

Setting: Ancient China, Later Han Dynasty. The stars and other signs and portents all predict the downfall of the emperor and the dawning of a new age.

Qwan: A strange boy with supernatural strength who has been roaming the land hunting demons to eat. He cannot remember his past or his purpose; he only knows that he comes from heaven.

Chikei: A lowlife drifter and sometimes thief who first met Qwan by a forest shrine. He saw Qwan as a way to get rich quick and suggested they team up and offer demon exterminating services to paying customers. Qwan gets to eat more demons, which is all he's interested in, and Chikei takes the money.

Shaga: A mysterious prostitute who seems to know something of Qwan's origins. She gives him one clue to help him on his way: "seek the essential arts of peace," a sacred scroll kept in the emperor's palace. In the right hands the scroll is said to give great power to the user.

A/N The fic takes place at the brothel, just after Yuushi the spider demon's thwarted attack on Chikei (volume 1). I'm just going to pretend that more time passed between that and the panels where Qwan confronts Shaga. I've only read the first three volumes (since as of now there's only three volumes out in English), so as more come out this fic might be rendered obsolete, but oh well. :p I want to give this series some publicity, and I think it deserves at least one fic.

Dissonance

by Orchideater

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He's staring at me again. Damn it all, I don't need his annoying habits when I'm having a crisis.

I'd never been so scared in my entire life as when that Yuushi character had me in his grip. I thought I was dead for sure, and then by some unfathomable stroke of luck, I was saved. Now I'm sitting here on pins and needles, afraid he could come back at any moment to finish the job. Did he plan to eat my soul, or worse?

I was shaking from head to foot, desperate for human comfort. Anything to make me feel safe again. So when the girl I'd spent the evening with came back to check on me, I grabbed her and knelt there on the floor, just holding her tightly until my nerves calmed and my breath slowed.

She seemed concerned, but couldn't understand why I was upset. I couldn't bring myself to speak of the incident, and I didn't feel I could confide in her. I don't even know her name. I've just been calling her "Sweetness," and "Darling."

So I said nothing. When I was ready I laid her down and lost myself in the soft warmth of her body, her pleasing scent and gentle caresses a soothing balm for my frazzled nerves. I had barely finished with her when I felt Qwan's eyes on me from mere feet away.

He gives me the creeps when he stares. There are times when he acts almost like a normal kid, and I can pretend that's the case, but at times like this I can't fool myself into believing he's human. His otherworldliness jarrs me. When he sees that I've noticed him, he blinks, and shifts position, and the spell is broken for now.

"Kid, when the hell did you get back here?" I ask him. "Can't I have a minute of privacy when I'm trying to put my head back together? I almost died tonight!"

"That Shaga woman hauled me back here and told me to wait, and then she disappeared. Who is she, Chikei? I want to talk to her."

"How should I know? She's a prostitute," I say irritably.

"She knows something about me. Come help me find her again."

"If she told you to wait here, then wait, already. Can't you see I'm busy with this girl?"

"You've been busy with girls all evening. This place is a waste of time. I could've been hunting some good demons to eat for all the time we've spent here."

"Look, I deserve a little bit of pleasure in this life! You can be patient and deal with it for one stinking night. Go for a walk or something. You don't have to stay here bugging me, you know."

He huffs and looks down his nose at me. "I just don't understand you. How much pleasure can come from lying on top of women?"

"More than you could possibly imagine, kid."

I glower at him, and Sweetness giggles behind her hand. "O-ho-ho! You'll come to appreciate us more in time. We women are good for many things."

Qwan frowns at her, and persists, "But how can laying on top of someone bring great pleasure?"

"Ch! Gimme a break, kid," I scoff. "You're old enough to know about this stuff. Old enough to know something, at least."

He just blinks at me, questioning, and I groan at his unbelievable naíveté. "Look, it's a physical... getting-together, you know? One person enters the other, and there's, er, motion, and you get pleasure out of it."

"That makes no sense," he says, shaking his head. "Come here and lay on top of me. I want to see if I can feel the pleasure too."

Oh, for crying out– does this kid know anything? I burn with embarrassment, while the girl finds his suggestion uproariously funny and laughs at my expense. "My mistake. He is old enough, he only wants a man!"

I glare at her and find my voice. "You don't even know what you're asking. Besides, I'm not into young boys, okay?"

"But what's so great about her that the pleasure thing works with her, and not me?"

Why does he have to be so curious about this now, of all times? He won't let it go. I look him over for a moment. He looks to be about fourteen or so, though sometimes he seems younger, sometimes older. Maybe Sweetness can show him the facts of life. Anything to shut him up. If he doesn't like it, I know he'll just push her away. I turn to her and ask, "Is he old enough for you? You think you can show him what's what?"

"Oh, of course," she says, waving her hand dismissively. "I have had several customers in the past like him, rich young lords eager to prove their manhood early. I will help him. Come to mommy, darling!"

She makes a grab for his arm but Qwan leaps away with the agile speed I've come to expect from him. "Gah! No, I don't want _her_. Women smell funny."

Again, she finds his blunt words hilarious instead of rude. "Oh, no. It seems my perfumes disagree with him as well."

"Why can't you just show me, Chikei?"

"Because I don't want to! Just let it rest, will you, kid?"

"No. Show me or I won't let you hunt demons with me anymore."

Damn. He gets me right where it hurts. This kid is my ticket to a life of luxury– I can't let him go so easily. And knowing him, he's not bluffing. All I do is drum up business among villagers. I need him far more than he needs me.

All right, I'll go through the motions. Once he sees what it's really all about, he'll pitch a fit and demand I get away from him. And I'll get to say I told you so. Simple.

"Fine, kid, fine. I'm telling you, this isn't what you think it is, and you won't like it. But if you won't shut up about it, then take off your clothes and come here."

Sweetness muffles her laughs into her long sleeves, endlessly amused by the whole situation. Qwan undresses quickly and pads over on bare feet. Seeing him naked shocks me somewhat. His body is human, on the outside, at least. I don't know why I was expecting something else, like scales or fur.

He crouches down next to us, and for a moment his unnerving pink eyes flicker over me and the girl. "Well, come on, show me what you do with her."

Urgh. "Look, lie on your back." He does so. "What we would do is I would put this part," I point down at myself, "inside you here." I pull one of his legs to the side and point.

He cranes his head forward to look, then looks up at me as if I'm playing a joke on him. "That, inside me? How ridiculous!"

"Yeah, see? I told you you wouldn't like it. You wouldn't want me touching or kissing you either. It's something humans do, and being from heaven and all, you wouldn't understand," I say smugly.

Now he's annoyed with me for being snide. He opens his mouth to argue, but we are both distracted by a subtle movement by the door. Shaga has slipped in through the shadows. Her expression of surprise turns grave as she looks us over. "What are you doing?"

Thank goodness. Now that she's here, Qwan will forget all about this and focus on getting information from her. Sure enough, he jumps up and stabs a finger in her direction.

"Hey! There you are. I want to talk to you!"

She ignores him for a moment and stares at me, waiting for an answer to her question.

"Oh, uh," I stammer, hoping she doesn't think all this was my idea, "Well, the kid was bored waiting for you and he got curious, so..."

"He asked to be shown the ways of the flesh?"

"Huh? Yeah, sort of. I told him to forget about it but he wouldn't let it go. Now that you're here, though, he'll–"

She cuts me off and turns away. "Qwan. You wish to talk to me, so we will talk. But first I must insist you continue what you started with Chikei."

What! She was supposed to be my savior, here, and now she's pushing this nonsense on me too? This has to be a conspiracy.

Teikou, the kid's freakish pet, flies in and lands on Shaga's shoulder. Qwan's been scrutinizing her, trying to gauge how serious she is, and I think he reads some hidden signal from Teikou to go along with what Shaga asks.

"All right," he relents, "but right after, we talk," and he comes back over and lays down before me.

Shit. Am I actually going to have to go through with this? I never believed in gods before, but now I think they must exist, because I must be cursed by them. All I ever wanted was some easy money...

A stern nod of the head from Shaga, and my woman gets up and leaves without a word. "Chikei, perform your function."

"Hey, who are you to order me around?" I complain, yet even as I resist she points a finger at me and I feel a great weight upon me, upon my back, pressing me down into position. Is Shaga doing this, or is it the kid? Or something else completely? I break out in a nervous sweat and begin to panic. Qwan is stone-faced as usual, staring at me as though _I'm_ the strange one.

"W-wait! I can't– I can't even..."

She gives me that slow smile. "I am here for you, if you need assistance." She parts her silken robe and bares her womanly charms, striking an obscene pose for my benefit. Damn her! She may be infuriating, but she has the kind of beauty men kill for, a body as addictive as opium. She can't be some ordinary whore– what the hell is she doing here, in a common brothel?

My body moves, guided by forces beyond my control. I enter him, and a shudder of fear rakes through me at the touch. His body is strangely cool, and I am overwhelmed by a sensation of damp chill. I remember such a chill. I felt it once when I walked into a cloud covering a high mountain path.

Qwan's only acknowledgment of my intrusion is a look of mild outrage. As if he couldn't believe I'd dare touch him in such a way, but isn't angry enough to do anything about it.

Messy strands of hair fall in my face and over my shoulders, and I am hot and sweaty and shaking. He lies under me, all calm and pale coolness, studying me with interest. I do the same to him as my body moves of its own accord.

His skin is fair and fine like porcelain, matched by hair of palest blonde, with silver strands shining throughout. I feel slovenly and coarse next to him. But his eyes are what make my heart clench in fear– his wide, staring, unearthly eyes. The color of blood and milk. They flay me open and leave me bare, and yet I can't look away. I'm trapped.

Numbness creeps up my legs and back in uncomfortable prickles, though I continue to move automatically.

I'm seized with the urge to touch his face. His eyes narrow slightly as my fingertips brush his smooth temple, drawn irresistibly toward the V-shaped symbol at the center of his brow. Its grooves carve deeply into his skin, each crowned with a rubbery, perfectly circular dot. Strange as they are, it's the triangle formed at the bottom that captures my attention. It strikes me as the most delicate part about him– a papery seal, seeming so thin I imagine I can see his lifeblood coursing just beyond it, binding him together.

My trembling hands reach for it. His eyes widen in surprise, and when my hand touches it, he flinches slightly in distaste or discomfort, I can't tell which. I don't know what makes me do it, but I bring my lips up and press them against the seal, feeling a dark pulse behind it.

He gasps loudly, and the world vanishes.

I fall through a white mist, bodiless and lost in a formless place, and all I can feel is the sensation of rushing movement. The fog burns away and instead I plummet through the swirling smoke of hundreds of dead and disembodied demons, and for a moment feel snippets of each of their former powers and auras.

I feel the pain of Death and Famine and War crashing over me for intense seconds, my emotions batted about like waves in a monstrous storm. I feel myself weeping, crying out but making no sound, begging for the maelstrom to end before I lose my mind.

Blessedly, the rush of sensation eases, and I float in the dark of the night sky, filled with brilliant stars. Rushing planets and throbbing suns swirl past me. Then my headlong movement ceases suddenly, to my surprise and further disorientation, and I fall out of the stars into another white fog, a fog with form and shape.

I fall at the feet of a great beast. I look up in horror to face an enormous blind wolf with the tail of a snake.

He does not approve of me. Faster than I could make a single movement, he lunges. Fierce jaws snap shut around me, and then I know nothing but darkness.

When I regain consciousness, I am back in the shadowy room of the brothel. I open my eyes, and for a moment I see not Qwan, but the phantom of a crippled dog. Somehow I know it's attempting to replace the missing lower half of its body with my own.

I blink once and the vision is gone, and Qwan's face is there again. He comes to, and by some mysterious cue, our bodies simultaneously reject each other. I scrabble clumsily away, shuddering from sudden chills and fever, and I barely manage to keep my dinner down.

Qwan leaps away in the opposite direction and then wobbles, dizzy, and does throw up. A small amount of liquid hits the floor and instantly swirls up into smoke, reforming into a winged insect with a shriveled human face. It flies away quickly, probably unable to believe its luck.

Shaga looks deeply disappointed. "Ah," she sighs, "this was a failure. I had thought such a bringing together of heaven and earth might shock Qwan into remembering. I was wrong. Pity. He needs to find another way to recall his self and his purpose..."

She turns away from us and exits silently, absorbed in thought.

I cover myself with a blanket and crawl on hands and knees toward my clothes, still feeling ill. Qwan keeps shaking his head, trying to clear it, and dresses himself in a hurry. "Ugh! That was terrible. Not pleasurable at all. I'm not doing that with you again, Chikei."

"F-fine by me, kid!" I shout back as he grabs his weapon and dashes out the door after Shaga. He doesn't seem fazed by our encounter at all, while I'm here in pieces.

I replay the night's events in my head as I get dressed, and then huddle in a corner, pondering my fate. If I had any sense I'd get out of here now, leave that kid and never come back. Ever since I met him, more and more trouble has come my way– first the bafuku, then Yuushi, and now this. I see demons in the crowds now. Why do I stay? I've no loyalty toward him.

But I will stay, for now. I can't help but feel curiosity over what will become of him, and some newfound, unwanted glimmer of conscience prods at me to help him, even feel responsible for him.

And at any rate, I love money far too much to let him go.

The End


End file.
